Wellington Family Business Dispute Attorney

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team represents business owners, investors, and families in Wellington and across Palm Beach County and Broward County, handling the disputes that erupt when relatives who own a company together stop agreeing on how to run it. A Wellington family business dispute attorney is often called in when siblings inherit a company and one wants out, when a parent and an adult child clash over who controls the checkbook, or when in-laws and spouses who hold shares cannot agree on compensation or direction.

Wellington’s economy gives these disputes plenty of raw material: equestrian operations, property-holding entities, contracting and service companies, and small family-run firms that grew up alongside the community. Many were set up on a handshake or a one-page operating agreement, and the paperwork rarely anticipates the day the family disagrees. When that day comes, the legal questions are specific: who actually controls the entity, what the governing documents allow, whether money has left the company without authorization, and whether a court can force a sale, a buyout, or a dissolution.

Why Choose the Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team for Family Business Disputes

The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team is a business and real estate litigation firm serving clients in Wellington, West Palm Beach, Boca Raton, Fort Lauderdale, and throughout Palm Beach County and Broward County. Founder Andrew M. Schwartz has spent 37 years in litigation, with a career built around complex contract disputes, business divorces, and conflicts between partners, LLC members, and shareholders. He was admitted to The Florida Bar in 1989, earned his undergraduate degree from Emory University in 1986, and received his law degree from the University of Miami in 1989.

Andrew is joined by Senior Counsel Sundeep Nath, a Northwestern-trained litigator with years of experience in business and real estate cases in state and federal courts. The firm practices as a true legal team, which means everyone working on your matter knows the file. That matters in family cases, where the facts are long, personal, and tangled. The firm keeps a strict 24 hour return call policy and answers when you call.

Family disputes are rarely helped by scorched-earth tactics. Andrew’s own view is that clients often think they want a hyper-aggressive lawyer when what they really want is someone who acts as the situation requires and uses finesse when finesse will do. The firm handles these cases with discretion while still protecting each client’s financial position at every step. The attorneys are experienced in mediation and arbitration as well as courtroom litigation, and they look for the outcome that fits the client’s goals and budget. That experience is proven in court: after a 5-day bench trial, a Broward County Circuit Court judge issued a 32-page final judgment awarding the firm’s client specific performance of a commercial real estate contract.

Common Family Business Conflicts We Handle

• Sibling Disputes After an Inheritance: Brothers and sisters who inherit a company or the property it operates from often disagree on whether to run, sell, or restructure it. One sibling who works in the business may feel underpaid while another collects distributions without contributing.
• Parent and Child Control Struggles: A founder who will not step back and a next-generation owner who wants authority collide over management, salary, and succession. Operating and shareholder agreements often decide who wins, so the precise wording matters.
• Spouses and In-Laws as Co-Owners: Ownership shared through marriage becomes complicated when the marriage or the family relationship deteriorates, raising questions about voting power, buyout rights, and who may stay involved.
• Minority Owners Frozen Out: A family member who holds a small stake may be shut out of information, denied distributions, or removed from management. Remedies can include claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, or a court-ordered buyout of the minority interest.
• Missing or Diverted Company Money: Unpaid distributions, commingled personal and business accounts, disputed capital contributions, and relatives who cannot account for funds all support claims for an accounting and recovery, along with emergency relief to stop assets from moving.
• Deadlock and Dissolution: When equal owners cannot break a stalemate, Florida law gives a court options, including dissolution, a receiver or custodian, or an order directing one side to buy out the other.
• Jointly Owned Family Real Estate: Property held by relatives, or by a family company and its members, can lead to partition actions, quiet title claims, and title disputes when co-owners disagree on its future.

What to Do When a Family Business Relationship Breaks Down

Start by gathering the documents that govern the company: the articles of organization or incorporation, the operating agreement or shareholder agreement, any buy-sell terms, and records showing who contributed what. If the company has no written agreement, say so early, because Florida’s default rules then fill the gaps and the history of how the family actually ran the business becomes evidence.

Next, preserve financial records. Bank statements, tax returns, payroll records, loan files, and accounting software exports tell the story of where money went. Do not delete emails or texts between family members about the business, and do not move company funds yourself in response to what you suspect another owner has done. Self-help moves often create counterclaims.

Watch the deadlines. In Florida, a lawsuit on a written contract generally must be filed within five years, while claims on oral or implied contracts carry a four-year period. A fraud claim runs four years from discovery, with an outer limit of 12 years, and a claim for specific performance has just one year. Family disputes often simmer for years before anyone sues, so a delay can quietly eliminate a claim.

If you believe assets are being diverted or a property is about to be sold or encumbered, tell your attorney immediately. Courts can issue temporary and permanent injunctions, including emergency relief, to freeze the situation while the case proceeds. Cases in this area are generally filed in circuit court, which for Wellington is the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit in and for Palm Beach County, sitting in West Palm Beach, with a branch courthouse in Royal Palm Beach. If the other side or the property is in Broward County, the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit in Fort Lauderdale has a complex business division that handles dissolution of certain business entities and large business litigation. Federal court in the Southern District of Florida sits in West Palm Beach and Fort Lauderdale when federal jurisdiction applies.

Finally, think about the end goal before you file. Some owners want out with fair value. Others want to keep the company and remove a relative. The right path, whether negotiation, mediation, arbitration, or litigation, depends on which outcome you actually want.

Dissolution, Buyouts, and Court Remedies for Family-Owned Companies

When family owners cannot continue together, Florida law provides structured exits. For limited liability companies, a manager or member may ask the circuit court to dissolve the company on specific grounds: the company’s activities are being conducted unlawfully, it is not reasonably practicable to operate according to the articles and operating agreement, controlling members or managers have acted or are expected to act illegally or fraudulently, assets are being misappropriated or wasted, or the owners are deadlocked and irreparable injury to the company is threatened or occurring. In these proceedings the court may appoint a receiver or custodian after a hearing, or order a purchase of the petitioning member’s interest.

Corporations work similarly but with their own buyout mechanism. When a shareholder petitions for dissolution on certain grounds, the corporation, or if it does not act, one or more other shareholders, may elect to buy the petitioner’s shares at fair value. If the parties agree on value and terms within 60 days after the first election is filed, the court enters an order on those terms. The corporation must notify the other shareholders within 30 days of the start of the case that they may avoid dissolution by electing to purchase. An election to purchase is irrevocable unless the court finds it equitable to set it aside or modify it. During the case, a court can issue injunctions, appoint a receiver or custodian, and take steps to preserve company assets.

Agreements can change all of this. If an operating or shareholder agreement contains a deadlock sale provision, it may control instead of a court-ordered dissolution or buyout, so reading the document closely is the first job in any family business case. Valuation is usually the hardest fight in a buyout, and a family member who has worked in the business for decades will value it very differently from the relative being bought out.

Family Real Estate: Partition and Title Problems

Many family businesses are really real estate holdings, and many family disputes end up as property cases. Florida’s partition statute allows a co-owner to ask the circuit court to divide land or, when division would prejudice the owners, to order a sale and split the proceeds. The court appoints three commissioners to evaluate whether the land can be fairly divided. If it cannot, the property may be sold at public auction, with proceeds divided according to each owner’s interest.

Relatives who inherited property together get additional protection. Florida’s Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act applies to partition actions filed on or after July 1, 2020, and covers real property held as tenants in common where no binding agreement governs partition, at least one cotenant got title from a relative, and further conditions are met, such as relatives holding twenty percent or more of the interests. When the property qualifies, the court must follow the special process, which favors partition in kind over forced sale unless that would prejudice the cotenants as a group.

Title disputes are the other half. A quiet title action asks the court to settle competing ownership claims or cancel a deed or other instrument that clouds title. A plaintiff generally must trace title back at least seven years, and the suit may be filed in any county where part of the land sits. Families sometimes find that an informal transfer, an unrecorded deed, or a relative’s long occupancy has muddied who owns what.

Questions About Family Business Disputes in Wellington

What is a family business dispute?

It is a conflict among relatives who co-own or co-manage a company or property. Typical issues include control, compensation, distributions, missing funds, succession, and whether one owner should be bought out or the business wound down.

Can I force a family member out of our LLC?

It depends on the operating agreement and the conduct involved. Many agreements contain buyout, expulsion, or dissociation provisions, and Florida law provides remedies when a member has engaged in serious misconduct or the company can no longer function. An attorney can review the agreement and explain what is realistically available.

What if a relative is taking money from the business?

You may have claims for breach of fiduciary duty, an accounting, conversion, and recovery of the funds. In urgent situations a court can order injunctive relief to stop assets from being moved or spent while the dispute is pending.

How long do I have to file a lawsuit over a written agreement?

The general limit for an action founded on a written instrument in Florida is five years. Oral or implied contract claims have four years, so the type of agreement you are dealing with changes your deadline.

Does every family business dispute end up in court?

No. Many are resolved through negotiation, mediation, or arbitration, and the firm’s attorneys have experience in all of them. Courtroom litigation remains available when a fair resolution cannot be reached.

What happens if our company has no written operating agreement?

Florida’s default statutory rules then govern, and the family’s actual course of dealing becomes important evidence. Missing paperwork does not prevent a claim, but it makes the case more fact-driven and usually makes careful document gathering more important.

Can a court order a sale of a family-owned building?

Yes, in a partition action. If the court finds the property cannot be divided fairly, it may order a sale and divide the proceeds by ownership share. For inherited property shared among relatives, the heirs property rules add protections that can make a forced sale harder to obtain.

Which court would hear my case if I live in Wellington?

Larger business and property disputes are generally heard in the circuit court for Palm Beach County, the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, sitting in West Palm Beach. Claims involving smaller amounts go to county court, and some cases involve Broward County or federal court depending on where the parties and property are.

I live in New York, New Jersey, or Connecticut and co-own a Florida company with relatives. Can you help?

Yes. The firm regularly represents clients from the tri-state area with business or real estate interests in South Florida. The attorneys handle the local court appearances and keep you informed, so you do not need to travel for every hearing.

Can I get a relative removed as manager while the case is pending?

In some circumstances a court can appoint a receiver or custodian, or issue an injunction limiting what an owner may do, after a hearing. The standard is demanding and depends on evidence of waste, misappropriation, or deadlock that threatens the company.

Is it worth hiring a lawyer if the family business is small?

Often yes, because a small company may be the family’s main asset or income source. An early review of the governing documents can show whether a negotiated exit is realistic and may prevent a costly lawsuit from developing.

Serving Family Business Owners in Wellington and Across South Florida

The firm’s family business dispute work begins in Wellington and extends across Palm Beach County, including Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee Groves, West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, Lake Worth, Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton. The firm also serves clients in Broward County, including Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Deerfield Beach, Coral Springs, Plantation, Davie, and Hollywood.

Whether the company is an equestrian operation near Wellington, a family real estate holding in Boca Raton, or a service business in Fort Lauderdale, the legal questions turn on the same documents and the same Florida law. The firm also represents clients from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut whose relatives or co-owners are here in South Florida, and it accepts referrals from other attorneys whose clients have disputes in the region.

Talk With a Wellington Family Business Lawyer Today

When relatives who share a company can no longer agree, the cost of waiting is paid in lost value, strained relationships, and sometimes missing money. The Andrew M. Schwartz Legal Team has represented clients in business and real estate disputes across South Florida, and our attorneys can review your agreements, explain your options, and recommend a path that fits your goals and budget. As a Wellington family business attorney team serving Palm Beach and Broward Counties, we encourage you to call and schedule a consultation to discuss your situation.